Legend of the Gemini
by Angels Draco
Summary: Finally the fight with Tulpa is over. Two girls enter the Ronins lives but unknown to them the two girls hold a secret that will change the Ronin's lives forever and effect not only one, but two worlds
1. Characters

**Gemini Profiles-**

**Name-** Angels Draco  
**Age-** 14  
**Birthday- **April 16th 

**Height-** 5'5"  
**Hair-** Dark brown (almost black) straight brown hair that reaches to her knees when unbound. Usually she has it up in a ponytail.  
**Eyes-** Dark brown and sometimes mistaken for completely black.  
  
**Armor-** StarLight  
**Element- **Ice/Water and Astro (wind and space)

**Colors-** Black and gold

**Appearance-** The armor of StarLight resembles the armor of Strata only the helmet looks like Wildfire's only the blades are wings. Where his is blue her's is gold and where Rowen's is white her's is black.

**Weapon-** A scythe and a bow/arrow.

**Powers-** her armor's powers include summoning the constellations into physical form (think FF7 summons) and her armor allows her to create gateways, like Tulap's only different in appearance, and also use water and wind spells.  
**Sure kill- **Cosmic Striker

  
**Personality-** Distant and tends to be violent. The only people she really trusts at the moment is Ki and MoonStriker. She pushes people away because of her past, which only ends up causing her more pain. Angels has an incredibly stubborn attitude and she refuses to be pushed around or give up. Even though it seems like she doesn't care Angels will stop at nothing to protect her friends even if it means her own death.  
**History-** Her family was killed in a forest fire at the age of three. She doesn't remember them much but nightmares occur often. The only thing she has to remember her parents bay is a small star shaped gold locket that hangs around her neck. There is a carving of a dragon on the front and a picture of her and her parents just shortly after she was born inside.

            She was born into the Great War and has never seen SunStar they way it was before the war. She can only imagin what Sunstar used to look like from what the elders tell her. She's a born fighter and has become a very powerful black belt in Tae Kwon Do and knows some elements of other martial arts. She's decent with a sword but prefers a staff weapon. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

**Name-** Kai Shironui  
**Age-** 14  
**Birthday-** August 2nd 

**Height-** 5' 2"  
**Hair-** Semi curly black that reaches down a few inches past her shoulders.  
**Eyes-** Light blue green  
  
**Armor-** SunFire  
**Element- **Fire/Heat and Light

**Colors-** Black and silver  
**Appearance-** Like Halo's only different colors and shape for her figure. Her armor is black in the same places as Sage's is white, exactly like Angels' armor. And where The Halo armor is green Ki's is silver.  
**Weapon- **Katana and No-datchi

**Powers-** Her armor let's her teleport (Though she'd not very good at it.) and use the summons from the Final Fantasy series (mostly 7 and 8) and use fire and light spells.  
**Sure kill-** Solar Flame Incinerate

  
**Personality-** She's outgoing and very hyper a lot. Almost the complete opposite of Angels. She'll help someone even when they say they don't want it or don't need it. But cross her and prepare to eat the floor.  
**History-** Lost her parents in a flood at the age of ten. Like Angels she was also born into the Great War. She's fought alongside Angels ever since she could remember and is the only one that has gotten close to her.

            Ki has learned the same types of martial arts as Angels and is a high ranking black belt in Tae Kwon Do. Her main weapon is the sword, which she loves very much, and hates using a staff weapon.

**Notes- **Both armors have a guardian animal like WhiteBlaze is guardian to Wildfire. Angels' guardian is an artic wolf named MoonStriker and Ki's guardian is a red-tailed hawk named FireWing.

            Also there is a reason to why they are referred to as the Gemini Warriors but you'll find that out on your own.


	2. Prolouge: Birth of the Celestial

**Legend of the Gemini**

**Prologue- Birth of the Celestial**

" Torch of Spirit,

Sought through five,

Drinking strength from emortal fire,

The Darkest Prism Sheds the Light,

Churning Beneath a Swirl of Salt,

Burning Within a Throne of Rock,

Floating Among the Eyes of The Ages,

Unmoored in The Stream of The Sky,"

" Sprits of heaven and earth,

The Celestial twins,

In the fire one shall sleep,

While the other floats among the stars above,

Hidden by the clouds and hidden by the smoke,

Until darkness threatens life,

The Gemini will sleep."

            _It has begun….. The end of the world as we know it. Thousands of years ago a man, known as 'The Ancient' fought a great battle against an evil emperor names Tulpa. The Ancient won and banished Tulpa's spirit to the Nether Realm, but his armor still remained. In order to keep Tulpa from coming back the Ancient split Tulpa's armor into nine separate ones and scattered them to the winds. Over time four found their bearers but unfortunately so did Tulpa. These were the armors of Cruelty, Corruption, Venom and Illusion. These four became Tulpa's Dark Warlords. He then sat and waited._

_            Tulpa rose again to take claim on the mortal world and he would have if not for the courage of five young boys who stood in Tulpa's way. Ryo of the Wildfire, Sage of the Halo, Cye of the Torrent, Kento of Hardrock and Rowen of Strata; the five remaining armors. After a long and hard battle those five boys, now known as the Ronin Warriors, defeated Tulpa and freed the Mortal Realm of his influence forever. They thought everything was done, the battle was over._

_            They were wrong…….. **DEAD** wrong……_

Ancient Japan~

            " Ancient. The nine armors have gone into hiding like you said."

            A young man in blue and white robes turned to face the youth kneeling by the door. His white hair fell past his shoulders unbound. " Good."

            The boy nodded and stood up. The Ancient raised an eyebrow when the boy did not leave. " I'm sorry Ancient but there are people here to see you. They claim they have been traveling for a long time." The Ancient nodded and the boy disappeared into the hallway to summon the visitors. The Ancient picked up his staff and closed his eyes, listening to the soft jingle of the rings. Footsteps brought him out of his trance and he looked towards the door. Three travelers stood there, one slightly behind the other two. The two in front were to men who looked no more than 18, one holding a sword while the other held a bow and quiver. The one in back caught the Ancients eye, all three were in samurai armor but the third member of the party was a girl, no more than 16. Her wavy blonde hair reached down to her waist and she carried a glaive in one hand.

One of the men, no more that 18 bowed quickly followed by the other two. The Ancient bowed in return.

            " Forgive us for bothering you Ancient. But my name is Lantis and the three of us have a favor to ask of you."

            " Go on."

            The girl stepped forward. The man with the sword seemed angry about the sudden intrusion of the girl but Lantis just held up his hand to silence his partner. " My name is Celest and…. Our home is in danger. We need you help Ancient."

            _And so began the battle with an evil even stronger than Tulpa. DarkSide. And so the birth of the Celestial Ronins came._


	3. Part 1: It has begun

**Part 1- It has begun**

( Author's note- All the guys are either 14 or 15 depending on their age compaired to the others. They're Sophmores in High school if they're 15 and Freshmen if they're 14. That's it for now. Oh yeah. I don't own the Ronin Warriors and all that stuff so PLEASE DON'T SUE!!! I don't have any money anyways and belive me… I am NOT getting paid for writing this. Ja-ne ~Angels~

P.S- Bold italics mean a person is writing this and italics mean they're thinking/ talking to themselves. Also when italics are used within *'s then that means they're comunicating telepathicly through their armors.)

            In a realm parallel to our own many battles had been fought. Many lives lost and many homes burned. For so many years the war had been going on. Generation after generation was born into the war with no end in sight. Thousands of years ago the Ancient had come and helped this realm defeat the evil being that threatened to conquer it and left behind three things, one which was destroyed in the battle that sealed DarkSide away. But somehow Shadow, the leader of DarkSide, broke through the barrier but the Ancient was dead. Only the two remaining items he left behind stood between Shadow and his reclaiming the realm he desired so much.

            **_A land of magic, knights, dragons and other things of myth. Cars, planes, guns, drugs; none of that exists here. Technology has only advanced in energy and medicine, which has put us far past the Mortal Realm's progress in those fields. TV and cars are not needed here. It's like the Medieval times of Europe meets Ancient Japan only a LOT more sanitary. Everything abandoned by the Mortal Realm has found it's way here, to SunStar. Even DarkSide has found it's way back. Only the Gemini Warriors stand in it's way but I am afraid. What if we are not strong enough? How can they expect us to fight this whole army by ourselves?_**

**_            I can't explain it but I feel this pull. This urge to go somewhere. Somewhere other than SunStar. Like I'm constantly being tugged towards the Mortal Realm. I can see these images of fighting in my sleep. They seemed to stop a few weeks ago but now they've just started to repeat themselves. Oh Ancient, why aren't you here? Where was it that you had to go so quickly and be killed? Please, we need your help. I don't know how much longer SunStar can stand this war. Everyone had been pushed back into the underground city and its defenses are starting to fail. We need help. But where will we find it?_**

            In the middle of a forest a lone girl, no more than 14, stood on a branch. Her short black hair hung a few inches past her shoulder. It swayed in the gentle breeze. The setting sun bounced rays of light off of the outfit she wore. It was dark green and made her look somewhat like Fuu from RayEarth. Her gloves and boots were black and the belt around her waist was silver. The rest of her outfit made her look like a soldier from Ancient Rome. Ki sighed and pushed her hair away form her eyes and back behind her ear.

            The setting sun made the valley look as beautiful as it had been before the war, or what she had imagined form the stories the elders told. She had been born into this war and was more than likely going to die before it ended. So was the fate of many of the people of SunStar. The sky was a blaze of colors and the trees stood out against the horizon even more. Rolling hills surrounded the area and she could see a shimmering lake in the distance. Their destination and location of the Ancient's temple, Jewel Lake. Ki sighed again and jumped off the branch. She landed on the ground with ease and started back on the path she had taken. She made her way back to the rest stop and snuck up behind another girl about the same age. Her dark brown hair was almost black and her eyes were the same color. Ki suddenly jumped from the bushes and clamped her hands down on the girl's shoulders. " BOO!"

            The other girl screamed and turned around. Her eyes narrowed as she glared down at Ki, whom was now on the ground laughing her head off. " That wasn't funny Ki!"

            " Yes… Yes it was!" She paused while another wave of laughter shook her entire body. Finally she calmed down at looked dup at her companion. " Oh lighten up Angels."

            Angels put her hands on her hip and tapped her foot on the ground.  She wore an outfit that looked like Umi's from RayEarth. It was dark blue and had shoulder pads like that of the Wildfire armor. Also she wore a headband and belt of gold. On her arms were black gloves that reached past her elbows and black boots the extended about halfway up her thighs. Her long straight dark brown hair reached down past her knees when unbound, like it was now. Ki grimaced at the glare she got and stood up, brushing the dirt off her. " So what were you writing in?" Ki asked while pointing down towards a leather journal that Angels had been writing in before Ki came back.

            Angels scooped it up and put the journal back into her backpack. " Nothing. Just my thoughts," she said while pulling the strings and shutting the opening to her backpack. She looked at Ki as the other girl picked up her own backpack. " Ready to go?" Ki nodded and they set off again.

            For another hour they walked in silence. Neither one had much to say for they were both absorbed in their own thoughts. Each one wondering about the war and lost in their thoughts of the future if they failed to stop DarkSide. Angels blinked and stopped walking when she heard a twig snap. She looked back but saw nothing and jogged ahead to catch up with Ki. *SNAP!* She stopped. There it was again but nothing was there. " Ki…. Did you hear that?"

            Ki stopped walking and turned slightly to look back at Angels, " Hear what?" Another twig snapped to their left.

            " It's them….," Angels whispered while she looked around. She could now sense their presence. ", they're here. DarkSide." The minuet she said the name an evil laughter rang out from the shadows. Both girls suppressed a shudder as the cold laughter sent a chill down their spines. " Chaos…." A formed dropped down a few feet in front of Ki. Ki yelped and stumbled back as Angels whipped around.

            " Very good Heavens," He pretended to look at a watch on his wrist that wasn't there, " It only took you a half an hour to finally sense our presence." Angels cursed softly and mentally kicked herself for letting her guard drop. Another form appeared from the shadows behind Chaos.

            " Honestly brother. Why waist your time on talking to them. Let's just kill them now," The obviously younger boy complained to his brother. Chaos looked back at him over his shoulder.

            " Easy brother. They can't go anywhere because they're surrounded and their destination has been destroyed I'm afraid." Ki opened her mouth to ask ' what do you mean?' but an explosion interrupted her.

            The ground shook with the force of the explosion and Angels could see smoke rising in the distance. _NO! They destroyed the shrine!_ Omega laughed when he saw the look of fear in Angel's eyes for a brief moment. " What's wrong Heavens? Did we blow up your little shrine that held all your answers?" Both brother burst into laughter as Ki looked back at Angels. _* What are we going to do Ki? There's no other place to go and they do have us surrounded. Any ideas?*_

_            * No. We have to get away from them though. They'll kill us in these transformations, they're not enough.*_ Angels grabbed Ki by the wrist and took off running. They jumped over the line of soldiers in front of them and kept running through the underbrush. Both girls could hear Chaos' shouts of 'Get them' and the thundering footsteps of the DarkSide soldiers as they gave chase. " Angels we have to get back to the underground city!"

            Angels shook her head. She kept a firm grip on Ki's wrist as they continued to race through the thick forest underbrush. " We can't. That's just what they want is for us to retreat and show them where the opening is. Besides it's to far…. We'd never make it."

            " But we have to do something!"

            " I know…. I know!" Angels ducked behind a large rock that jutted out of the ground. Ki hide next to her as they listened. They heard hundreds of soldiers run past and keep going. Angels let out the breath she hadn't noticed she was holding. She looked down at the ground for a moment. " Ki…," she paused and waited until the other girl looked at her. Ki looked confused as Angels refused to meet her gaze, " … I hate to say this but we must leave SunStar."

            " WHAT!?" Angels clamped her hand over Ki's mouth before she could shout any more. Ki pushed her hand away and continued in a softer whisper. " Are you nuts?! We can't just abandon our home!"

            " We can't win here. We need help. Maybe we can find it in the Mortal Realm."

            " But there is no one there with magic or anything like that! They've buried their ancient power long ago. No one there can help us." Ki grabbed Angels by the shoulder and looked her straight in the eyes. " You can't be serious."

            Angels looked away and broke her gaze from Ki's. " But I am…. I think there is someone or rather a few someones that can help us. The Ancient went there to protect someone. We know that from what we sensed before he died. Ki I think he went to help a band of warriors from being destroyed before they realized their full power. We have to try Ki… it's our only hope of saving SunStar." Angels locked her gaze with her partners once more. Tears lined her eyes yet none fell. She hated the thought of leaving her home as much as Ki did.

            " But what about DarkSide?"

            " I… I think I can open the gates to DreamScape and take them along with us. It will take them some time to get out of that realm, maybe it will be enough for us to find help."

            " And if it's not?"

            Angels closed her eyes and clenched her fists, " Then SunStar is doomed like it is now without us going."

            " Dammed if we do, dammed even more if we don't. Alright then. Let's do this Angels." Ki stood up and nodded as she jumped up onto the rock. She gave a loud whistle and waved her arms in the air. " HEY DARKBUTTS!!!!! COME AND GET ME!!!! I'M OVER HERE!!!" She heard the distant rumble of approaching soldiers and looked down at Angels.

            Angels stood below Ki on the ground. She pulled the scythe from its holder on her back and closed her eyes. A gentle breeze kicked up that made her hair and skirt sway. She breathed deep and let it out as she began to the chant that would open the transdimensional gateways. " I summon the void….. Extend the path and open the gates…. Ancient Clan hear my plea. Open the gateway to DreamScape; the land of dreams and the crossroads!" She lifted her scythe up with one hand above her head. The wind swirled around her and became a whirlwind as the DarkSide brothers, Omega and Chaos, emerged from the brush with their army not far behind. " Release the ancient seal across the gateways of  time and SPACE! I, Angels of the StarLight, command it!!!" DarkSide's screams and shouts of confusion were lost the howling of the wind as a white gateway appeared behind Angels and Ki. It's gates groaned as they opened and the wind swept everyone, Gemini Warrior and DarkSide soldier alike, thought. It's doors slammed shut and the sound echoed through out the forest. It disappeared leaving no trace of either DarkSide or Gemini Warrior. They were gone.

            Ki moaned as her eyes fluttered open. She looked up at a cloudless sky. Leaves and cherry blossoms floated and swirled around with the wind. She bolted upright and looked around. A few feet away she saw Angels' body and quickly crawled over to her. " Angels…. Angels wake up. You did it?"

            Angels moaned and opened her eyes with a soft 'huh?' She pushed herself up onto her knees and looked around. Everything looked like it would in a child's dream. Ki was right, the gateway had worked. This was DreamScape, the place where dreams were made and for those of high power a crossroad between realms. Ki helped Angels up to her feet. Both of them could feel DarkSide's presence and Ki could tell Angels was losing energy and fast. Making gateways was always a very draining process and Angels wouldn't be awake much longer. " Ki…. You need to teleport us the rest of the way… I don't have enough energy left to make another gateway…"

            Ki looked at Angels, worry written all over her face. " I… I can't…, " she stuttered. " The Ancient taught you the gateways and transdimensial travel not me. What if I mess up?"

            Angels only smiled kindly and took Ki's hand in both of hers. She locked her calm gaze with Ki's frightened one. "You can do it. I believe in you. Have faith."

            Ki gulped and nodded. " O…okay I'll do it… but won't DarkSide be pulled through with us?" Angels merely shook her head.

            " Not if you concentrate Ki."

            She gulped again before nodding. Ki drew her sword from its sheath on her back and held the blade in front of her. " Ancient One please guide me…. Bring us to the Mortal Realm," Ki chanted as she slowly lifted her blade up above her head. Its blade was filled with a silver light, " …. TELEPORT!" Silver light erupted from the blade and both Gemini Warriors disappeared from DreamScape.

            In the Mortal Realm a blue haired boy sat on a roof of a manor house deep in the forest. The nearby lake reflected the image of the moon and the stars in the sky. Rowen sighed as he laid back onto his elbows. Two streaks, one gold and one silver, flashed across the sky but quickly disappeared. Rowen blinked in confusions, " I wonder what that was…," He trailed off in thought for a moment before shrugging it off. " It was probrobly nothing. Just a couple of shooting stars." He went back to star gazing completely oblivious to the new arrivals in the Mortal Realm. The Gemini Warriors had come and this was only the beginning.


	4. Part 2: Gemini's Decent

[ Author's note: Sorry for the delay but on top of writer's block and revision it was hard to wright. Their ages go as followed:

            15- Ryo, Sage, Rowen, Kento, Angels, Ki

            16- Cye

It's been one year after the finally fight with Tulpa. Sorry for any confusion but I did not catch the mistake on their ages earlier for I had originally written this to take place earlier but have since then changed my mind. Those that are 15 will be sophomores and Cye will be a junior in high school. Sorry for any confusion.

I also wanted to note that Angels's appearance is changed. There are dark blue streaks in her hair, one over each eye and another one on each side of her head. Also her eyes as a dark blue color with silver specks in them like the night sky. Another note that anything within ' ~'s are dreams and dialogue within '/'s is in English.]

**Part 2- Gemini's decent**

            Many more star filled nights passed. Rowen was once again outside on the roof stargazing. His thoughts turned to the two weird shooting stars he saw about a week ago. For some reason her couldn't get them off his mind. Something was coming. The warrior of Strata could feel it in his bones. Something that would change the whole world and more was coming. Yet he was completely in the dark. Rowen sighed as he broke off his thoughts. He moved to climb back down and go inside when something caught his eye.

            In the sky a small gold dot seemed to be falling towards the Earth. _Weird… I wonder what that is? It's probrobly nothing._ With a shrug Rowen descended and went back inside to go to sleep.

It had been one year. One whole year since Tulpa's last defeat. With the battle done and the world saved the five Ronin Warriors went their own separate ways, returning to the families they had left during the battle. And so each returned to separate parts of Toyama but somehow managed to get into the same high school called ' Han'a High.' No matter what the distance they still remained friends. However there was one person missing from their group.

Mia Koji had been given the opportunity to move to America and continue with her grandfather's research. With a heavy heart she said goodbye to the Ronins for the opportunity was to great of a chance to pass up and the Ronins were happy for her. She left them the mansion mainly because she said she'd visit when she could and the guys could use it for the summer or weekend getaways. Which they were currently taking full advantage of.

" BONZAI!" Kento ReiFuan yelled as he cannon balled of the small dock and landed with a big splash in the water. Ryo Sanada and Cye Mouri both tired to shield themselves from the large wave that ensued but was useless. They did however immediately get into a splashing match with Kento as soon as the boy surfaced.  Rowen Hibasha looked up from his nice, shady spot under a nearby tree and laughed; his book momentarily forgotten. Sage Date cracked one eye open from his napping spot under the same tree and looked at the laughing trio in the lake. He sighed and shook his head. _Oh how the mighty have fallen_, he thought to himself. It was the last few days of summer vacation and they were being as lazy as ever. None of them wanted to think of the school year that lay ahead of them. But alas, paradise never lasted long.

" Looks like rain you guys," Rowen shouted to the others as dark clouds started to gather in the sky above. The wheater report on the morning news had given a warning for a large storm in the making. The five quickly gathered their things and ran into the manor house as the first few rain drops fell before quickly turning into a downpour.

Down along the coast of the sea, just outside of the city, the water thrashed in the full fury of the storm. Deep beneath the waves a large gold tinted bubble floated still in the water. Within it the form of a young teenage girl could barely be seen. _Kibou, Hope_. Angels Draco stirred from the sleep she was in and her dark blues eyes blinked as she took in her surroundings. _Where am I? Is this the Mortal Realm?_ She stood up and mentally urged the bubble to streak up towards the water surface. It did as urged and within seconds the bubble emerged within the full fury of the storm. The silhouette of the city was clearly in view and the female ronin of StarLight gave a small sigh of relief. They had made it, and maybe now they would have the time to figure out their next move. Without saying anything the gold sphere  rocketed into the dark clouds in the sky above taking Angels with it.

_Kyou, Faith._ Ki Shironui yawned and stretched as she came to. It took a moment for realization to hit but within seconds she blinked and yelped. " NANI KUSO!?" Just outside a silver tinted bubble was a roar of flames in all directions. Ki's gaze snapped to her right when she heard a soft laughter. She looked down and saw that she was sitting on something solid and stood up before jogging in the direction of the voice. Within two steps the flames parted and she hopped down from a small platform, the silver bubble disappearing once she was out of the flames. Ki glanced back over her shoulder and saw that the flame was part of a small shrine, deep within the caves of what seemed to be a mountain.  Her gaze moved forward and she blinked in surprise. " ANGELS," came the happy cry when she finally recognized the girl standing about 10 feet from the flames.

Angels smiled and nodded. Her SunStar uniform had faded and been replaced by normal clothes. She wore a black sleeveless shirt that resembled a turtleneck, but a little form fitting. Dark blue jean shorts and black socks, white sneakers with dark blue accent, completed the ensemble. Ki blinked and looked down to see her own uniform was gone. In its place were a dark green baby t and a pair of light blue flare jeans with green shoes. The Ronin of SunFire looked up, tears shining in her eyes. " We made it?" Ki asked in a small voice that squeaked slightly. Angels nodded and Ki gave a whoop of joy. " We made it! I can't believe it, we're back in the Mortal Realm."

" Don't celebrate just yet Ki," Angels said in a cold toned voice. Unlike Ki she was not overjoyed to be in this realm. " We are here to figure out a way to stop DarkSide. This is no pleasure trip."

Ki sighed and slumped her shoulder. " I know, I know." She blinked and looked around. " Where are we anyways?"

" Within a small shrine dedicated to the earth within the Caves of the Pinnacles," Angels replied while turning to leave, " Just outside of Toyama, Japan."  Ki made a small 'huh' in reply before jogging to catch up with her companion in arms. The shock of being in this realm was still in control. It wasn't the first time they'd been to this realm, but it had been some time since they were here last. In fact, most of their lives had been spent growing up in the Mortal Realm. Until that fateful day when they both meet the Ancient One known as Kaosu and his tiger WhiteBlaze. The day that their destiny took over and they embraced the power of their armors at the age of ten.

" Where are we staying?"

" Did you honestly forget? Where we've always stayed."

" But I don't wana stay at the dojo," Ki whined. Angels just chuckled and shook her head.

" Not there silly," she told her with a small hint of laughter in her voice, " I meant the other place, the house. We're going to be here for awhile."

There was a small pause of silence until the other girl uttered, " Oh." Angels smiled. It was like old times again but her smile soon faded. She could not forget why they were here but she could also not forget a vow they had made many years ago. She only hoped that whatever happened, that vow to Kaosu would not be broken.

" Aww man. I don't wana go back to school," Kento whined for what seemed the millionth time that morning. The five had met up like always in the courtyard within the walls that surrounded Han'a High. Cye and Ryo had claimed branches for seats in a large cherry tree. Rowen was half asleep in the shade at the base of the tree and Kento was standing against the trunk. Sage on the other hand was lying on his back and to all appearances was dead asleep. Rowen had mentioned something about Sage waking up in the middle of night while at the manor but none of them had really thought anything about it until now. Sage was the only one of the five that got up at the crack of dawn every morning and stayed wide-awake afterwards. For the past week he'd been rivaling Rowen for who slept longer. Kento nudged Sage with his foot and the Ronin of Halo opened his eyes to look up at him. " You okay man?"

" Yeah," Sage replied while getting up and dusting the grass off his uniform. " Why? What makes you think something's wrong?"

" You mean besides the fact that you've seemed to have picked up Rowen's sleeping habits?" Ryo called from above. Rowen gave an indignant snort in reply. Sage laughed and merely waved it off as nothing. Any other questions in pursuit of this were stopped when Ryo called down from his perch. " Hey guys, 12 o'clock." Immediately four other heads turned to look at the front gates to the school. There stood two new girls that none of them had seen before, one slightly taller than the other. The shorter one was bent over slightly, seemingly catching her breath. Her short black hair was pulled back on the side by two little dark green hair clips. Her uniform consisted of a green vest and skirt. Her short sleeved shirt and knee-high socks were a silver-white color and she had small black slip-on shoes. The taller of the two had the same kind of uniform except her vest and skirt were blue and the shirt and socks were a gold-yellow color. Her long dark brown hair fell down just past her waist but what caught their eye were the dark blue braids, one on each side of her head, and two more dark blue streaks in her bangs just above each eye. The boys exchanged glances. Ryo, Kento, and Sage had the green and white uniform while Rowen and Cye whore the blue and yellow one. Rowen wondered if the blue streaks were natural like his own blue hair. Both girls looked of Japanese decent though the one in blue seemed to also be part American. Her dark blue eyes scanned the courtyard and stopped when it fell upon the five Ronins. They could only stare in return as if they were in a slight trance. They finally snapped out of it when the girl looked at her companion, whom repeated what she said. The girl in blue nodded and the two headed inside. Just as the five were getting over their shock the bell rang and they hurriedly said their goodbyes while running to get to their separate homerooms.

" All students will report to the Auditorium after homeroom."

There was a loud noise in the halls as the entire student body made it's way down to the auditorium. Ryo looked around and stopped Kento waving from a couple of rows from the back. Ryo waved back and grabbed Sage, tearing him out of the middle of the girls that had surrounded him. " Sorry ladies!" Sage flashed Ryo a grateful smile and they both made their way to the other three just as the principle walked onto the stage.

" Okay," he said trying to get everyone quiet. But this being a high school, he had no such luck. " Ahem……," no improvement," AHEM…."

" He's gonna need to do better than that," Kento snickered.

" QUIET!" Well, that seemed to work only it wasn't the principle that shouted. The student body quieted down and turned their gaze to the 5 exchange students standing behind them. The two girls from earlier were at the end of the line. The black haired girl was blushing and hiding her head while the other one giggled. The principle cleared his throat again and motioned to the 5 students standing behind him.

" As you can see we have five new exchange students," he started.

" WELL DUH!"

" Joey, I'll see you in my office after this assembly." There was a snicker from the crowd and said boy ducked his head. Ignoring this the man continued. He introduced two boys as students from other parts of Japan. There was a girl from South Korea and finally he motioned to the last two girls. " And last but not least we have to students from the United States. Ki Shironui," the black haired girl bowed," and Angels Draco," the other girl didn't bow but nodded her head. When he turned around Angels covered a yawn with her hand. " Now I hope you'll make their stay here at Han'a High an enjoyable one and make them feel very welcome." At this Ki rolled her eyes and Angels stuck her tongue out at the principle's back. Many of the students laughed but when he turned to glance behind him both girls faked innocence. He turned his gaze back to the students before him and narrowed his eyes. " Alright back to class!" he bellowed in dismissal before leading the five off the stage.

Kento whistled as they left the auditorium. " Beautiful and bad. I think I'm in love….. So lay off lover-boy." The last part was aimed at Sage whom just shrugged.

" I can't help it if the ladies love me," he flashed a smile and the two freshmen girls watching him nearly fainted. Ryo groaned and shook his head.

" Whatever lover-boy," the warrior of fire said while playful pushing him forward. " Time for class. See ya guys later." With that they went on their separate ways. But to their surprise it turned out that a couple of them had the same classes as both Angels and Ki. Rowen shared the most with Angels since she was apparently in the higher-level classes along with the Ronin genius. She still shared gym, lunch, as well as her language and English class with Ki. All five Ronins had the same lunch and gym class as the two but only Sage and Ryo were in their English class. The seven also had the same class in Japanese. By the end of the day the Ronins had many run-ins with Angels and Ki but to their disappointment none were long enough for them to get to know the two mysterious girls.

The last bell rang none to soon to the students stuck within the school. Too bad it was a Monday and just the start of the week. Ryo and Rowen were standing under the tree waiting for Sage to swim his way out of the sea of girls and for the other two to show up. Rowen looked up from his book at Ryo's nudge to his ribs. He looked at Ryo and looked in the direction the other boy pointed. Angels was standing near the gate with an annoyed look. Joey was leaning over her with one hand pressed against the wall just over one of her shoulders. He said something to her only to get a hard slap in reply. Ryo and Rowen started to run over but before they were there Joey grabbed Angels by the arm.

" LET GO!" His smirk disappeared when she twisted his hand off her arm. Angels spun on her heel and her leg came up to slam into the side of his head with a hook kick. Rowen stared for a moment but snapped out of it when Ryo ran foreword. Joey's friends were closing in around the girl.

" Hey," Ryo yelled while grabbing one of them by the shoulder. " Leave her alone!" He ducked a punch and delivered on of his own to the guy's stomach. 

" This is none of your business Sanada!" Another one yelled only to go down from a round kick to the stomach delivered by Angels.

" Oh shut your mouth. It's what got your friend in trouble in the first place."

" Little brat," the third on hissed but fell flat on his face with a gasp of pain. Rowen stood behind him and glared at the fallen boy as he and his friends scrambled to their feet.

" This is over yet!" They called back while grabbing Joey and high tailing it out of there.

Angels rolled her eyes, " Good ridens." She looked at Ryo and Rowen.

" ANGELS!" The girl visibly winced at the shout of her name. She looked towards the school and saw Ki running towards her. She did not look happy. " What do you think you're doing!?"

" It wasn't my fault," Angels countered in a defending and angered tone. " He asked for it."

" Oh sure," Ki replied in a sarcastic tone, " I'm sure he and his friends just walked up to you and BEGGED to get beaten up!"

" Um…. The damage wasn't all her's," Rowen interjected. Ki blinked and looked at the two of them and then back at Angels. Angels nodded and Ki returned her gaze to the two Ronins. The anger in her eyes faded and she smiled.

" I thank you then," she told them both. " You're Ryo and Rowen right?"

The two nodded. " Yep. I'm Ryo Sanada and this is Rowen Hibasha."

" It's nice to meet you."

" Likewise," Rowen said in reply to Ki's statement. He looked at Angels whom had remained silent. " Where'd you learn to do that?"

She blinked and looked confused. " Do what?"

" Fight like that," Ryo explained also curious, " I've never seen a girl do that before. Well at least not in a skirt."

" She had a pair of shorts underneath."

" KI!"

" What? It's true."

" Well you didn't have to tell them that!" Angels hissed while sending a glare at the other girl. Ki just shrugged.

" We've been training in the martial arts since we were little," Kai told the two ronins. " Mainly Tae Kwon Do."

" Really? At what dojo?" Ryo asked, noting that Sage would be rather interested in this little fact.

" The SunStar Martial Arts Academy," came the brown haired girl's reply. " Most people call it the SunStar dojo for short."

" Cool."

" HEY RYO!" Ryo turned and waved to Kento as he and Cye finally emerged from the building. The ash haired boy managed to get Sage's attention and he pushed his way out of the sea of girls around him. As he approached the growing group he flashed the two girls a flirtaseous smile. Ki giggled and Angels just rolled her eyes._ Well one out of two's not bad_, he though to himself.

" The red head is Cye Mouri, with him is Kento ReiFuan, and the flirt right here is Sage Date." Ryo pointed to each of them as he introduced them. Cye and Kento said hello. Sage took Ki's hand and kissed the back of it.

" Why hello," he said in a suave voice. " And what would such a beautiful lady such as yourself being hanging around here?"

" Alright Casanova, enough of that." Sage yelped when Kento put him in a headlock and both girls couldn't help but laugh at the sight. Angels looked over at Ryo.

" Are they always like that?"

Ryo sighed and nodded, " Unfortunately so."

" Where are you guys heading?"

" Where do you think Ki?"

" It's just a question Angels."

Angels gave Ki a leveled look. Cye decided to head off any little argument that might break out. " We normally meet here then head home."

" So where do you two live," Kento asked innocently while still keeping Sage in a headlock. Ki looked worried. Angels just looked rather amused.

" A few blocks that way," She replied while pointing in the direction. The Ronins, minus Sage, exchanged a glance and a grin. " What?"

" You mind if we walk with you? The five of us live scattered along those streets." Angels and Ki exchanged a glance of their own before they both looked at Cye and shrugged. They didn't mind. With that done Kento finally released Sage and the seven teenagers started down the sidewalk. As they walked the Ronins asked Angels and Ki, Ki being the one that answered most of them, about themselves. Angels seemed to perk up when she heard Ryo had a pet.

" What kind of animal is he?"

There was a slight hesitation by all five. " A cat. His name is WhiteBlaze."

" Interesting name for a cat," Angels comment while the other four ronins snickered. WhiteBlaze was a cat alright…. A very BIG cat. But they weren't about to let it be known that Ryo had a pet Himalayan white tiger.

" I wouldn't be commenting about weird pet names if I were you," Ki said in a sly voice.

" MoonStriker is not a weird name," came the reply.

"What's he?"

There was a slight pause on that one. Angels couldn't tell them she had a pet Artic wolf running around. Plus she wasn't sure where he was. He'd stayed in the Underground city back in SunStar. The girl wasn't sure if he'd even come through the gates since it seemed like he was connected to an armor. But he wasn't there with them when Angels opened the actual gateway. " He's a dog." Ki resisted the urge to laugh but it could be seen in their eyes. The Ronins decided not to ask.

As they continued Cye and Kento split off from the group when they reached the street the two lived on. Kento lived across the street and two houses down from Cye. At a small apartment building on the main street Rowen said his goodbyes. That left only Ryo and Sage with Angels and Ki. The four exchanged surprised looks when they all turned onto the same street. Sage's family dojo was near the end of the street and Ryo lived with his grandmother at the beginning of the street.

" So where do you two live?" That was Sage.

" Why should we tell you?" Ki nudged Angels in the ribs to shut her up. The other girl glared at her and rubbed her now aching side.

" The small white house with black trim," Ki supplied in an apologetic voice. " It's about halfway down the street."

" I thought no one lived in there."

" Master Seyia moved out after his wife died. So in a way you are right Ryo. No one has really lived in the house for the past bunch of years," Angels said in a matter-of-fact voice. " But it's used for those visiting the dojo for short periods of time."

" Oh." Ryo waved goodbye as he jogged up to his house and the remaining three continued on their way. Angels looked a little annoyed and glared at Ki when she asked what was wrong.

"/ I can't believe you told the flirt right there where we live,/" came the annoyed reply in English.

Ki sighed, "/ Chill alright. He probrobly would have found out pretty soon anyways./"

"/ We're not here to flirt and you know that./"

"/ So why are you here then?/" Both girls jumped and looked ahead at Sage. He turned around and was now walking backwards. What surprised them was that he spoke almost perfect English.

" You…?" Ki started but was cut off.

" It's none of your business Sage." Angels walked past him and headed for the small white house that had been mentioned earlier. Ki stopped and looked at Sage.

" Sorry 'bout that."

" It's okay. I guess you're not gonna give me an answer either are you?" Ki shook her head. Sage just shrugged. _It was worth a try._ He too said his goodbye and continued down the street until he reached his own house. The two girls they'd just met were on his mind all night. There was something unusual but familiar about those two yet he couldn't place it. It was obvious they were hiding something but he couldn't shake the feeling that he was missing something very bug. His thoughts turned to the dreams he'd had lately. Within dark flames and ruin stood a single person with their back to him. Two silver-white wings protruded from her back and her long silvery blonde hair fell down to her knees. A black dress with a high front, low back and that reached down to about an inch above her knees nearly blended itself in with the dark void surrounding the image. The girl turned partially and looked at him. There was a deep sadness in those dark blue-green eyes. ' It has begun. Beware Halo, destiny has come.' Those words, always those same words. For some reason that voice sounded even more familiar to him but he couldn't place it. What was that dream about? Was it a warning?


	5. Part 3: Darkness Rises

**Part 3- Darkness Rises**

Sage's musses about his dreams were normally cut short by one thing or another. Pretty soon all of them had fallen into the rut of schoolwork. Over the week the Ronins started to spend more and more time with both Angels and Ki. By the end of the week they were all becoming close friends with the two girls and even Angels seemed to be opening up a little more each day. Slowly the walls she'd built long ago to shut others out started to fade and she found herself to start thinking the five crazy guys as friends. For a while Angels and Ki found it easy to take their minds off of the huge problem hanging over their heads. But every couple of nights one of them would grow silent in thought about SunStar and the war with DarkSide. It was easy to keep the Ronins oblivious to these thoughts but Sage was starting to suspect something. His dream kept reoccurring and it was growing clearer. But Sage wasn't the only one plagued by dreams. For the first week in the Mortal Realm nothing had happened but Angels's dreams started to resurface. It was like they were trying to tell her something, but as to what she couldn't understand and many details kept fading soon after she woke up. In an attempt to remember them she'd resorted to writing them down. Another thing that worried her was that MoonStriker hadn't shown up at all and there was no word from SunStar. The wolf was never very far behind Angels and it even worried Ki that he hadn't been sent through the gates by the Elemental Masters of SunStar.

It was in the middle of their third week that the peaceful life Angels and Ki finally had gotten seemed to fall completely apart.

" Aww man," Angels groaned while looking outside the window. She'd stayed after school to do some work up in the library. Mainly her mission was to find another book because she'd already finished her latest one and she also wanted to see if she could come up with anything on her dreams. It was down pouring outside, still going from when it started that afternoon. Angels had lent her jacket to Ki figuring it'd probrobly stop by the time she'd head out for home. But as usual, she had no such luck. With a heavy sigh she gathered her things and headed out of the school library. For a few moments her mind was bent on calculating on just how to run all the way home but she decided just to forget it. With another heavy sigh she walked out the doors and into the pouring rain. Within two minuets both her hair and clothes were soaked which added more to her already miserable mood.

" Angels! Hey Angels wait up!" Angels stopped and looked back to see who was calling her name. She turned around completely when she recognized Ryo running towards her. An equipment/gym bag hung off his shoulder and she guessed he had soccer practice that day after all. She'd heard that the teams sometimes used the gym indoors. She'd assumed most of the practices were cancelled because of the rain but Angels seemed to have guessed wrong. The girl waited as Ryo caught up. " Aren't you cold?" he asked from under his jacket's hood after taking a moment to catch his breath before they both continued on. Angels just shrugged, rain never really bothered her much and until he'd asked she hadn't realized that she WAS cold. " I thought you had a jacket this morning?"

" I lent it to Ki."

" Oh." They continued in silence. He cast Angels a worried look when she sneezed loudly but she just waved off his concern. " You can barrow my jacket if you want."

" That's okay," She told him while pushing her wet bangs out of her eyes. " We're almost to our street anyways."

Ryo wasn't surprised. In the short amount of time they all had to have gotten to know the two girls he'd learned a couple of things about them. Angels didn't bother or inconvience anyone close to her if she could avoid it. Whenever she stayed after she told them to go ahead but always waited for them if they stayed behind. She didn't show it easily or express it but she seemed to care deeply for anyone she considered a friend. Ryo guessed that something in the girl's past might have something to do with it. It took time but eventually she dropped her attempts to push people away when it was clear they weren't going anywhere. The Ronin of Wildfire wondered just what had happened to make the girl known as Angels push people away like that. They paused in front of Ryo's house.

" See ya," Angels said before turning to go.

" Wait." Angels stopped and turned to face him. Ryo's mind blanked for a moment but he quickly recovered what he'd wanted to ask. " You know that four day weekend coming up?" Angels nodded. Everybody knew that the next weekend was a four-day one. Many kids wouldn't shut up about it. " The guys and I were gonna spend it up at that house belonging to our friend Mia, you know the one that moved to America." Again she nodded so Ryo continued, " We were wondering if you and Ki would like to come up with us?"

There was a slight pause but it passed quickly. Angels smiled and nodded again. " We'd love to," she replied and turned to go. Ryo gave one last wave before heading inside, frowning when he heard Angels sneeze again.

The next morning Ki glanced at the clock on her nightstand. It was about 45 minuets before school started and she didn't hear any sounds that would have told that Angels was up. Normally the StarLight ronin was up before her. Something wasn't right. Ki walked through the bathroom that connected her room with Angels's and poked her head in. " Hey wakeup sleepy head or you're gonna be late."

Angels groaned rolled onto her stomach before pushing herself up with her arms. She glanced at the clock nearby and cursed while getting up and out of bed.

" You okay Angels? You don't look to good." Angels just waved off her concern and ushered the other girl out of the bathroom. Twenty minuets later Ki was downstairs in her uniform waiting for Angels. Her head snapped up when she heard a yelp and a thud from upstairs. _ * What's going on?*_ she mentally asked Angels while running up the stairs.

_* It's okay. It's just MoonStriker.*_ Ki reached Angels's door and stared. Sure enough Angels was on the floor in her gold colored T-shirt and blue spandex shorts that she wore under her uniform. On her stomach as a large with artic wolf with small hints of gray in certain areas. On his forehead was a gray shape of a crescent moon, hence where he got part of his name. Angels looked up at Ki when she heard her burst out into laughter. " Not funny Ki. MoonStriker get offa me," Angels lightly shouted while trying to push the wolf off of her. He complied and just sat by as Ki helped Angels to her feet.

" Where'd he come from?"

" I'm guessing either the Elemental Masters or Chronos sent him through the gates," Angels replied while dusting as much wolf hair off her as she could. She finished putting on her uniform while Ki petted and scratched MoonStriker behind the ears. The doorbell rang and Ki rushed off downstairs to answer it, knowing it was Sage. Angels scratched MoonStriker's back once she was finished getting dressed. " I gotta go to school now but I promise I'll come home and catch up with you as soon as I can." She placed one of her hands against the floor from where she knelt. MoonStriker whined and butted her free hand, which was on his back. Angels looked at him and gave him a tired smile, " I'm okay. Just a little fever that's making me a little dizzy." Ki called her name from downstairs and Angels shouted that she was coming. She gave the wolf one final scratch before grabbing her backpack and bolting for the stairs.

Sage noticed that something seemed off but didn't mention it as he watched Angels rush down the stairs. If he said anything he knew she'd just wave it off and say she was fine. As they headed down the street Sage noticed Angels rubbed her back. " What happened?"

" She got a surprising greeting this morning," Ki answered with a grin.

Angels looked at him before explaining, " MoonStriker pounced on me this morning. He caught me off guard and I ended up on my backside."

" I thought you said he was in quarantine at the airport?" Sage asked. Angels and Ki had told him and the others that as an explanation for the wolf's absence.

" He was," Ki said while waving to Ryo whom was waiting at the corner, " Master Seyia left a message on the answering machine last night saying that MoonStriker was free to go. He must have dropped him off this morning before going to work." It made sense. Master Seyia was also a cop and sometimes worked really early in the morning. Plus the guy had his own key. They met up with Ryo and the others as they continued on their way to school. Cye asked Angels is she was all right and, as Sage suspected she would, told him that she was fine. Despite being half awake like Rowen in the morning she seemed to have less energy than usual. Angels waved off their concern by telling them it was just a small fever, a cold a nothing more. They finally caught the hint and dropped the subject. Instead Ki entertained them by telling how she found Angels that morning with MoonStriker sitting on her stomach.

" KI!" Ki took off at a run still laughing. They reached the school gates just as the bell for homeroom rang and they went their separate ways.

Rowen gathered his things as the bell rang, signaling the end of fourth period. He looked over at the seat next to him. Throughout the day Angels kept looking worse and worse. She started to get up but stopped when a strong dizzy spell hit her. It seemed like the whole room had set on a spin cycle. Her knees gave out and she thought her heard someone call her name. Angels blacked out as her body collapsed to the floor.

" ANGELS!" Rowen shouted while jumping over the desks and kneeling beside the fallen girl. The few students left in the classroom were starting to gather around. He called Angels's name again and gently shook her by the shoulder but got no response. He looked up at the students gathering and whispering. " Someone go get the nurse!" Two students near the back of the small crowd bolted out of the room to retrieve the school nurse.

" It's just a bad fever."

" Well DUH," Ki shouted angrily at the nurse. Sage covered her mouth with his hand before she could say anything else while Kento grabbed her arm to hold her back.

" Look," the nurse said in a stern voice while ignoring Ki's shout, " I can't the six of you in here like this. Go back to class. Miss Draco will be sent home once she wakes up."

Kento nearly dragged Ki out of the nurse's office, ignoring her squeaks of protest. Sage thanked the nurse and followed the rest of them out. Once out in the hall Kento let go of Ki's arm while trying to avoid the girl's glare. Ryo put his hand on her shoulder. " Don't worry. Angels will be fine," he said in an attempt to reassure the girl," Sage and I have a study hall for lunch and then English after that. We'll talk to the teacher and then come back here to take Angels home alright?"

Ki looked at him and then Sage before sighing. Her shoulders slumped as she hung her head forward but reluctantly nodded in agreement. " Just make sure you tell us what happens in class okay?" Sage said in an attempt to cheer her up. Ki looked up at him and nodded.

" Fine. But I'm not doing your homework for you." This caused a small bit of laughter. It was about ten minuets into the period before lunch by the time each of them got to their classes. More than one of them found it hard to really concentrate on their classes. Ki felt bad, mainly because she'd asked to barrow Angels's coat yesterday and walking home in the rain couldn't have helped. Also they hadn't been in the Mortal Realm for some time now so they weren't immune to the normal colds and such that the people here were. Her armor's power helped mainly because it had a strong healing element to it. The SunFire ronin sighed and rested her head on one of her hands while looking out the window. This was turning out to be a disastrous week. The fact that it was only Thursday didn't help.

Angels awoke about twenty minuets before first lunch started. She blinked and slowly sat up, resting her head in her head as another dizzy spell hit. She looked up when a middle-aged woman with light brown hair in a bowl cut walked in. Angels recognized the school nurse, who wouldn't. The woman told her what had happened and informed her that she was to go home immediately. She ignored all protests from Angels and finally the girl gave up trying. Within ten minuets she was at her locker switching the books she didn't need for the ones that she would need from the classes she'd managed to go to that day. The locker shut with a soft click and Angels rested her forehead against it for a moment. _God,_ she thought, _I can't even remember the last time I got sick. Stupid cold._ She pushed away from the locker but stopped. Her vision blurred and the girl swayed before starting to collapse backwards.

Someone grabbed her shoulders and caught her from behind. Angels blinked and looked up to see tiger blue eyes filled with concern. " Ryo?"

" When you weren't in the nurses office we got worried. She told us we'd just missed you and we decided to stop by here first before trying to catch up," Sage said while coming up behind Ryo. He frowned upon seeing the girl's condition. He was right, her fever had been worse than she'd lead them to believe. He took Ryo's backpack from him and picked up Angels's from the floor. " It's a good thing our math class finished early." 

Angels squeaked in protest when Ryo lifted her up onto his back, like he was giving her a piggyback ride. " Ryo put me down! I can get home on my own. You two don't have to baby sit me!"

Ryo just shook his head and started for the doors. " I doubt that," he told her in a stern voice, " Besides, what are friends for? We're the only ones that live close to your house besides Ki and it took us about five minuets to convince her to stay here." _Man, she's lighter than I would have thought,_ the boy said to himself. He glanced back at her over his shoulder. Angels sighed and gave up. She was too tired from putting up her front earlier to care anymore. All she wanted to do now was go back to sleep.  She turned her head to the side and rested it against Ryo's shoulder and back before closing her eyes. 

Sage shivered when they got outside and zipped up his coat. It was slowly getting colder as the days entered the fall and drew ever closer to winter. Both he and Ryo had on the jackets they'd gotten after the final battle with Tulpa. He wasn't surprised to see that Ryo's was left open, the boy was never cold. Angels actually had her own jacket today since she'd made sure Ki brought her own that morning.  It was black and reached down to the top of her thighs, angling in around the waist and going back out again. It also had a big hood and a picture of small angel wings on the back of it like those seen in many animes. She'd laughed when they said it matched her name. If only they knew the half of it. They arrived at Angels and Ki's house in no time but were forced to pause at the front door. It was locked but neither one of them had much heart to wake up the sleeping girl. Sage looked in the front pocket of her backpack and came out with a small pair of keys. After a couple of tries he found the right key and opened the front door. Ryo walked in but froze on the spot when he heard a deep and threatening growl. Sage came up behind him and froze as well upon seeing the white wolf in front of them. The wolf did not look happy.

" NANI!?"

" Easy boy," Ryo said in an attempt to calm the wolf and try to show they meant no harm.

Angels stirred and opened her eyes upon hearing the small commotion. She lifted her head up to look over Ryo's shoulder when the wolf's growl reached through her cloudy mind and registered in it. " MoonStriker knock it off," she scolded in a half awake voice. The wolf stopped and whined while bowing his head. Sage looked from the wolf to Angels and then back again.

" THAT'S," he exclaimed while pointing at the white wolf, " MoonStriker?"

Angels looked over at Sage before replying, " What? Never seen a wolf before?"

" Not as a pet. I thought you had a dog," Ryo said while setting Angels down on her feet. He steadied the girl but she waved him off within a few seconds.

" Ki likes to call him 'mutt' because she knows it annoys him," she pointed to the stairs and told Sage he could put her backpack on one of the first few steps. Ryo cast a glance at the wolf. It did look different from your average animal. MoonStriker kinda reminded him of WhiteBlaze in which both of them had a look to them that said they were smarter than they seemed. The wolf's actions also showed that it seemed to understand humans, or at least it understood what Angels said. She looked at Ryo and Sage when they didn't make any move to leave. " Aren't you guys gonna go home?"

" You kidding?" Sage asked while putting on a look of mock freight, " Ki said she'd kill us if she found out we left you here alone."

Angels rolled her eyes and remained silent. Her head was too fuzzy and it hurt too much to start arguing about this now. Ki had probrobly counted on that. Angels silently cursed the other girl for knowing her so well. Instead Angels looked down at MoonStriker. " They're friends, so no pranks got that?" she ordered him. To their surprise the wolf actually nodded in reply. " Go ahead and make yourselves at home them. Living room and TV are over there and the kitchen is through that archway right there," she told the other two while pointing. She trudged up the stairs and into her room, closing the door with a small bang. She took off her jacket, skirt, and vest and tossed them near her closet leaving her in her shorts and an untucked gold color T-shirt. Angels flopped down onto her bed and immediately went back to sleep.

Downstairs Ryo and Sage exchanged a glance and started to make themselves at home. It would still be about two hours until the others got out of school. MoonStriker followed them into the living room, wagging his tail when Sage scratched him along his spine.

It was a half an hour later until both their stomachs protested loudly to being starved. They both gave a nervous laugh. " I guess we might as well raid the fridge," Ryo suggested. Ki had told them as long as they stuck around they could eat anything they wanted since they were skipping their lunch period. Sage nodded and went upstairs. He knocked lightly on the door to Angels's bedroom and called her name but got no answer. Carefully and slowly he opened the door and peeked inside. The layout of the room kinda reminded him of Rowen's; dark blue walls with glow in the dark stars on the ceiling. In the center of the ceiling a large circle was clear of stars except for a couple that made a familiar constellation, Draco the dragon.  A small bookcase packed with books and a few more on a small desk were the only other pieces of furniture besides a bed and a small nightstand next to it. Sage walked over to it and looked down at the girl that was curled up on her side still fast asleep. As he covered her with one of the sheets Sage couldn't shake the thought that Angels looked familiar somehow. But from where or what he couldn't place it. He shrugged off his current train of thoughts and quietly left the room, closing the door behind him.

Ryo and Sage looked up from the homework they were doing when they heard the front door open. Four people could be heard coming in and a female voice called both their names. The two boys got up and MoonStriker ran out ahead of them. There where three surprised gasps and yelp quickly followed by a thud. Ryo and Sage entered the front hallway to see Ki on the floor, obviously after being tackled by the wolf. She was glaring at him and trying to push him off of her. " MoonStriker," she scolded in obvious annoyment, " Angels has got to talk to you about how you greet people."

MoonStriker snorted and hopped off. He looked up at Cye and Rowen, both of who were staring, and Kento who looked like he was scared of being eaten. " Yes he's a wolf," Ryo said causing the four to look up at him and Sage. Ki got to her feet with a little help from Sage and dusted herself off. " He caught us by surprise too."

" He didn't attack you did he?" Ki asked worried. She looked a little relived when the two ronins shook their heads. " How's Angels?"

" Dead asleep. Has been ever since we got here," Sage told her. She thanked them and asked if they wanted to stay for dinner. Kento whooped with joy before being shushed by the rest of them. Ki took that as a yes.

It was dark by the time Angels finally woke up. She yawned and stretched while sitting up. Her fever hadn't gone down at all and she still felt icky, for lack of a better word. Despite that she got up and dug around in her closet for a moment before pulling out a pair of jean shorts and a dark blue tank top that had spaghetti straps. She changed out of the last of her school uniform, put her hair into a braid to keep it out of her way, and left her room. Voices floated up from downstairs and Angels immediately recognized them. She slowly made her way down the stairs and into the living room. She leaned against the doorframe and smirked at the scene. Kento and Rowen were stuck in a small wrestling match with Cye and Ryo cheering them on. Ki sat nearby praying they didn't break anything though the living room was pretty large with a big clear space in the middle and Sage sat with her. He looked towards the door when he saw MoonStriker get up and run over to it. Angels gave him a small wave before kneeling down to pet MoonStriker.

" Well someone's awake." Sage's comment made the wrestling match pause in mid fight and their gazes all glanced at Sage before concentrating on the doorway.

" Hey! Long time no see!" Ki shouted happily.

Angels looked up at her with a small smile. " What have I told you about bringing home strays?"

" Hey, you brought two home yourself. And besides, they followed me on their own accord," Ki answered. She broke out into a fit of giggles at the guys' faces until one by one it dawned on them what the two were talking about.

Kento whooped as he took the chance of Rowen being distracted and pinned him. Cye cheered and Ryo groaned while Rowen just squirmed. Ki finally got up to break up the match and get Kento to release Rowen. Angels walked over to the couch and flopped down. Sage looked over at her. " How's you fever?"

" Still here," she said while leaning forward the rest her head in her hand. The Halo ronin noticed the strange tattoo on her back as well as the small scar on her shoulder. The tatto was a pair of silver-white angel wings. _Well that exlpains a couple of their inside jokes._ Now Sage had been raised to be courteous and he wouldn't be as rude as to ask about it. Unfortunately Kento's mind didn't work that way.

" Hey what's with your back?"

" Kento!" the four boys other boys immediately scolded. Angels laughed at his bluntness.

" I'd tell you but I'm not sure where the tattoo came from," she told him while looking over the back of the couch, " I've had it since I was little."

" Oh," came the reply. Cye announced it was time they got going and the five boys said goodnight. Ki stood at the door and waved to them as they went their way down the street. When she got back to the living room she stopped when she saw the evil grin on Angels's face.

" So," she said with an amused tone, " Which one do you have the crush on?"

Ki stuttered before shouting her reply in an indignant voice, " I don't have any crush!"

" Oh yes you do," Angels laughed.

" I do not!"

" Do to!"

" Do not!"

" Do to!"

" Do not!"

" Do to!"

" Do not!" Ki threw her hands up in defeat. " ALRIGHT! I'll confess!" Angels grinned in triumph. " ….. it's Sage," Ki whispered.

" HA!" Angels exclaimed. " I knew it!"

" Oh be quiet!"

Unknown to any of them; a dark, ominous cloud started to cover the sky of the Nether Realm and former home of the Dynasty. Kayura and the three warlords sprang into action but they were too late. Black lightning crashed and caused the ground to explode. Their screams of pain were drowned out by a cold and evil laughter. A large dark shadow with glowing red eyes formed within Tulpa's former throne room. Within minuets two teenage boys appeared kneeling in front of the form on the throne room.

" Master Shadow," the one on the right said without lifting his head. " The former Warlord's of Tulpa have been thrown into the dungeons as you commanded."

" Shall we proceed to try and turn them to our cause?" The second one asked.

" Yes," hissed a voice that seemed to echo from the shadows itself. The large from on the throne condensed into a more solid shape and a heavily cloaked person. The only thing that could be seen within the hood was a pair of glowing red eyes. Shadow, the leader and master of the realm known as DarkSide, let lose another peal of evil laughter. The former Dynasty was theirs and soon the Mortal Realm would crumble at their feet and leave SunStar weakened. All he had to do was defeat the Gemini Warriors and he already had a plan for that. They would not stand in his way again.


	6. Part 4: Broken Star

**Part 4- Broken Star**

The next morning came and went with Angels staying home from school. Neither Sage or Ki would allow her to go since her sickness had not gone away and she still had a slight fever. Not that she protested much, she'd rather sleep it off at the moment than suffer through school. Plus she wanted to feel atleast somewhat better by that night. Sage had asked them to help with a small open house demonstration at his family's dojo that was attached to his house. The guys were coming since they trained there a lot and Mr. Date had expressed an interest in meeting two students of his dear friend Master John Seyia, owner and master of the SunStar dojo. Both of them served in the police force and even worked on some cases together. So Angels and Ki agreed to the request, offering to go over right after school to help set up. But since Angels was sick Sage told her not to worry about it and just come by before the open house started.

For Ki and the Ronins school couldn't have gone quick enough that day. Once the bell rang they met outside and headed for Sage's house. Ki stopped by her house to drop off her things as well as quickly change into her dojo uniform. It consisted of black semi-baggy pants and a tight black tanktop and sports bra underneath a green karate gee top only it didn't have any sleeves on it. On the back was her last name in silver letter patches and over her heart was a black circular patch with a silver star over a gold sun within it, the Symbol of SunStar. Around her waist was a black belt with three gold stripes on one end and the Koren symbol for Tae Kwon Do in gold stiching and her full name on the other end. She slipped her shoes on and cast a quick glance into Angels room to see that the other girl was still asleep but her alarm clock showed that one of the alarms was set to go off. She gave a small wave to MoonStriker when the wolf looked up from his nap at the end of Angels's bed. Ki left the house without noticing the dark clouds that seemed to start to gather in the sky. A dark presence was coming and would make it's move within just a few hours.

Angels groaned and cracked open her eyes to glare at her now blaring alarm clock. She yawned and reached out to shut it off before getting up and streching slightly. She looked around but didn't see MoonStriker in her room. As she walked to the bathroom she let her senses expand throughout the house and located MoonStriker downstairs. A short while later Angels emerged from the bathroom awake, refreshed and partcialy dressed in her dojo uniform. She picked up her dark blue top and put it on. It was exactly like Ki's, sleeveless and with the SunStar logo over her heart, but on the back her last name was in gold patches and there where two white wing patches that matched the tatto on her back. Her black belt was the same except her name was on it and she had four stripes instead of three. Angels streched her arms above her head but stopped when there was a soft 'thud' that made her look towards her open bedroom door. " MoonStriker?" she called but recived no answer. _Now that's weird,_ she thought while slowly walking out into the hall. _If he can't come he normaly barks just to let me know that he heard me._

Her feet made little noise as she padded down the emtpy hallway. The girl paused at the stairwell when a soft, haunting melody reached her ears. She recognized it as a flute but didn't understand. To her knowledge and according to her senses there was no one in the house. " MoonStriker? Ki?" No answer. It was dark in the house becase no lights were on and the light from the windows was fading as the sun got lower in the sky. Angels turned to look back towards her and Ki's rooms when something grabbed her from behind and threw her into the master bedroom which neither of them used. She cried out in surprise more than pain when her body hit the cleared floor space in the dark bedroom. Heavy footsteps of her attacker grew closer at a quick place and Angels scrambeled to get to her knees. A shadowed figure lunged in and her foot lashed out in a side kick to knock him back, she could tell from the person's build that they were male. She kicked again when he lunged for her a second time but no luck. He caught her leg and her eyes grew wide when she glimpsed his arm swinging down towards her knee in the low light. She screamed in pain as his blow over extended and dislocated her right knee. His foot landed a hard kick to her ribs, knocking her onto her side as he continued to kick and punch relentlessly. No matter how hard she tried she seemed to be one step behind her attacker.

Angels tried to clear her head that was in a haze of pain when the man suddenly stopped. Her eyes caught a glimpse of metal and she heard a cold laughter. Without thinking about the concequences she tried to summon her armor orb but bit back another cry as pain shot through her whole body. Something was blocking her armor! She couldn't summon it. The man laughed again and the blade of the knife he held arched down to open a small cut on her cheek. The female ronin lashed out with her uninjured leg but it was no use. The knife opened a deep slash and Angels screamed again as her attack once more seemed lost in a frenzy. All attempts to stop him were in vain as her pain filled body reacted to slow and her mind seemed to constantly be one step behind.

Just as there seemed to be no end or any help in sight a feirce growl came from behind the man. He screamed as the wofl pounced and dug his teeth into the man's arm. He cursed and grabbed MoonStriker by the back of the neck before hurling him into the wall with an incrediable amount of strength. Angels screamed MoonStriker's name as the wolf's form fell to the floor limp, and unmoving. The man laughed again and kicked Angels in the head, catching her off guard and trowing her onto her stomach. Distantly she heard the phone ring and a familiar voice on the answering machine. She tried calling the name that came to her both physicaly and mentaly but neither voice seemed to work. She was alone. Her attacker on the other hand seemed less than pleased and cursed again. He growled and slashed at the girl's back again and again, slowly carving out a singal word. The hilt of the knife hit Angels on the temple of her forehead, knocking her unconsious. With that done the man smiled maliciously and disappeared into the shadows.

Ki figited and looked at the clock on the wall. Angels was late. She couldn't shake the feeling that something was WRONG. Finally she tried calling through the links of their armors only to find no answer and something seemed to be blocking the connection. Now she knew something was wrong. She sprang to her feet and ran over to Sage. " I'm worried about Angels. Can I barrow your phone real quick?"

" Sure," he replied before leading her into the dojo's office. Ki picked up the phone and dialed the number of the house. After five rings the answering machine picked up. She called Angels name but still the other girl didn't pick up the phone until the line cut off. She hung up and looked at Sage with worry deep within her eyes. " Something's wrong," she told him, " I'm gonna go home and see what's up."

Sage moved aside as Ki ran out of the office. He too felt uneasy and after a moment of debate followed the girl. He called to Ryo, whome was nearby and the only Ronin not currently occupied. The two left at a run and caught up with Ki as she ran down the sidewalk. None of them were prepared for what they were about to come across.

As they neared the house Ki immediately saw that the front door was wide open. She slowed down and moved to go in but a hand quickly squeazed her arm and jerked her to a stop. She looked back at Sage and Ryo.

" Let us go in first," Sage told the girl. There was a strong sense of darkness and evil still hanging in and around the house. Something was definatly wrong. He looked and Ryo and the two nodded before carefuly enertering the house on full guard. Once inside Ki turned on the lights to the front hallyway and stairway.

" Angels!? MoonStriker!?" The three's shouts went unanswered. Ki bolted towards the stairs, followed immediately by Sage and Ryo. Once up there she looked towards her and Angels's room before the down the oppisite direction. The doorway only a few feet down at the end of the hallway was wide open. Within the faint light Ki caught a glimpse of dark brown and blue streaked hair. She ran to the doorway of the master bedroom and reached inside to turn on the lights with Sage and Ryo right behind her. Upon seeing the sight Ki screamed in surprise and horror. All three of them stood in shook of the sceen before them.

Blood was everywhere and in the middle of it was the beaten and bloodied Angels. Sage and Ryo pushed past Ki and immediately knelt down next to the unconsious girl. Sage's gaze snapped up and looked at the still frozen Ki. " Call 911," he ordered. That snapped her out of her daze and she ran down the hall and into her bedroom. Sage quickly returned his gaze to Angels, checking to see that she was breathing and had a pulse. Ryo looked around and spotted MoonStriker unconsious against the wall. Before he could go and check to see the wolf's condition he heard Sage gasp and looked to see what had made him do so. What he saw made his breath catch in his throat.

On Angels's back the word 'Ronin' was carved by small slashes.

Sage took a deep breath to try and ease the anger and surprise both welling up inside of him. He carefuly placed his hands on the girl's back and let his healing powers go to work. Ryo's soft protest went ignored as he healed the cuts on the girl's back as best as he could without calling his armor. A soft green light glowed under his hand for a few moments. The lighter cuts on Angels's back healed quickly but Sage stopped when he heard footsteps coming towards them. The word was gone and only a few random looking cuts remained behind. Angels's shirt and pants had been torn in a few places so 'Ronin' wasn't clearly cut into the back of her bloodsoaked shirt. It was obvious that who ever she'd tried to fight back against had surprised and overpowered her.

" Oh my god," Ki cried," MoonStriker!" She rushed to the wolf's form laying against the wall near the door. MoonStriker whined as he started to come around. Ki gave a small sigh of relief, at least one of the two seemed to be okay.

" Ryo, go out front and wait for the ambulance." Ryo nodded, through reluctnant to go, and got up to follow Sage's command. Ki looked at Sage when he told her to go get a couple of towels and immediately did so. _If we don't stop some of her bleeding she'll die of bloodloss._ He checked her pulse again and grew more worried as it kept getting fainter. When Ki returned with two towels he took one and pressed it against as many cuts on Angels's back and side as he could. He instructed Ki to do the same with the girl's left leg after taking notice that her right knee looked badly hurt. Ki nodded and again did as she was told. They heard sirens in the distance and prayed that the EMTs would hurry up. While they waited however Ki carefuly called upon her armor's power and the magic of her blood to heal the deeper cuts Angels had sustained. It was only a little but it stopped much of Angels's bloodloss. But the problem was Ki could only heal the cuts to the point of not needing stiches without Sage noticing something. She stopped her healing power just as Ryo's shouts could be heard from the front door. Ki and Sage moved back as EMTs rushed in and took over. The three stood back as two men and one woman feverishly worked to save Angels's life. Ki knelt down and hid her face in MoonStriker's fur, unable to bear seeing her best friend and companion in this state.

_How could this have happened?_ Ki kept asking herself over and over again. Tears fell from her eyes and she looked up when she felt a hand on her shoulder. Sage looked at her with concern in his eyes but said nothing. More footsetps could be heard as Mr. Date and another police man came running. Mr. Date had been called at the dojo when his dispatch unit had recived the emergency call. He took one look at the sceen and turned his attention to the three teenagers and one wolf standing off to the side. He ushered them out into the hall and downstairs into the living room so the EMTs could work. The other three Ronins were already there and another policeman was outside keeping the gathering crowd back.  Mr. Date started asking Ki, Sage and Ryo what happened and they told them their story, pausing only when the EMTs brought Angels down the stairs and outside to the ambluance on a strecher. MoonStriker whined and started to follow but Ki kept him back by grabbing the collar around his neck. There was nothing they could do at the moment to help Angels except pray.

An hour later only the two cops, Sage, Ryo, and Mr. Date were the only visitors in the house. Ki just sat on the couch with her hands clapsed infront her her chin as she rested her elbows on her knees. She answered their questions as best to her knowledge. Her eyes were deeply worried and concern but they also held a slightly haunted look. There was now way she could understand just how this happened. If she were in that much danger Ki knew Angels would have at least called her subarmor. The whole thing made her body trembel in fear and exsaughtion. Despite what the other two thought she had sceen the word slashed onto Angels's back. DarkSide had found them. She was foolish to think that this peaceful life would last.

The sound of the door opening and closeing snapped her out of her thoughts. All of those present looked up to see an middle-aged man walk into the room. His short hair and small beard were already white even though he was just under the age of 50. John Seyia, master of the SunStar dojo, was still in his own dojo uniform which was completely black but his shirt had sleeves and he had nothing underneath it like the two girls. Mr. Date walked forward and shook hands with the man.

" John hello," he said in as cheerful a voice as he could make right now, " I wish it was under better conditions."

" Same here," Mr. Seyia replied in a somber voice.

" Master Seyia," came a soft voice. He looked down at Ki whom was looking up at him. " How is she?" she asked in the same small voice.

The man sighed and sat down in one of the empty arm chairs. " She's stable but still unconsious," he told them. " They said it was because of a small blow to her head so she should wake up pretty soon. Besides a whole lot of cuts and bruises, none of which are really major, she has a couple of broken or cracked ribs and her right knee was dislocated from a hard blow aimed to do just that." Ki flinched and a couple of the others grimanced. " It just proves even more that this attacker had his work cut out for him. Baised on what I've seen of the police report already MoonStriker tried to interfear but was knocked away. Your voice on the answering machine probrobly scared this person off." Mr. Date nodded, that's what he had suspected as well.

" Are there any leads as to who did this?" Ryo asked. Mr. Seyia sighed and shook his head as did Mr. Date.

" None so far. The neighbors say they didn't see anyone besides you guys anywhere near the house," Mr. Date told them.

" Ki," Mr. Seiya paused until the girl looked at him before continuing, " if you want I can take you to the hospital." Ki nodded and got up to go get some things from upstairs. Master Seyia turned his gaze to Ryo and Sage, " I thank you for sticking around but you might want to head home. It's getting pretty late." The two boys said their goodbyes and started to leave when Ki returned with a small backpack in her hand.

" What about MoonStriker?" Ki asked Master Seyia. The wolf was obviously worried but the man had to shake his head. Pets weren't allowed in the hospital.

" I think we can do something about that," Mr. Date commented while looking at the wolf. He turned his gaze to the girl. " If he will behave he can stay with us tonight and Sage will bring him by the hospital tomorrow."

Ki nodded, wondering just how Mr. Date would manage that but her mind was to occupied on other things to peruse the curiosity. She looked down at the wolf, her eyes intense and serious. " Behave. Go with Mr. Date and Sage tonight and they'll take you to see Angels tomorrow okay?" Again to many people's surprise the wolf seemed to understand and even nodded in reply. Ki thanked Mr. Date and Sage as they left with MoonStriker following behind them. Ki and Master Seyia left soon after they and the two remaining cops left, making sure to lock the front door behind them.

Sage listened to the sounds of the house as his family rose the next morning. The Ronin of Halo sat at the kitchen table lost in his own thoughts. Not only the nightmare from before but also the urgent feeling that something terrible was about to happen had plagued his sleep. Sage's thoughts focused mainly on the events of the past few weeks, specifically those of last night. There was a noticeable bond between the two girls known as Angels and Ki, different and deeper than that of friendship. It was almost like their shared the same bond the Ronins did but that was impossible. Sage and the others bonds had been formed in a tight locked battle against evil and mystical armors. But Sage could not overlook the fact that whoever had attacked Angels had slashed the word ' Ronin' into her back.

Upon thinking about the girl named Angels Sage cast a glance down at the wolf lying at his feet. MoonStriker had been good on his promise to behave but it was obvious the wolf's thoughts were elsewhere rather than on making trouble. If Sage didn't know any better he would say that the wolf was as worried, if not more, than he was. But what's to say that he wasn't? WhiteBlaze acted like a human at times so why was it so hard for Sage to believe that this wolf might have the same kind of intelligence? Angels had said that MoonStriker had been with her since she could remember and Ryo had said the same about WhiteBlaze. Plus Sage knew for a fact that the wolf got little, if any, sleep last night.

As if sensing eyes on him MoonStriker lifted his head and looked up at Sage. The boy smiled and scratched the wolf behind the ears. The wolf's gaze moved to the kitchen doorway as, one by one, the rest of the Date family entered.

Mr. Date said a quick hello and gave a quick kiss to his wife before grabbing a piece of toast. He was already in his police uniform and explained that he wanted to see if anything new had popped up about last night's events. When his father asked Sage if he remembered how to get MoonStriker into the hospital he nodded. It was a simple and easy plan. " Are the other boys going to meet you here?"

Again Sage nodded. " Yes," he said while getting up to follow Mr. Date as he headed for the front door. " We figured we'd meet here and then head over to the hospital. Cye said he would drive us there."

" Good. I have a feeling that those two girls will need every bit of support they can get," the man said with a sad tone in his voice. He'd come to know both girls as nice young ladies. His friend John almost thought of the two girls as his own children and last night Mr. Date had felt the same kind of feeling. They were good friends of his own son and the other Ronins, whom might as well have been Sage's brothers. " Take care."

" You too." With that said Mr. Date left the house and got into his car. Mrs. Date came by and gave her son a kiss before she too left. She was a doctor at the same hospital Angels had been taken too. She too was eager to get to work and see how her son's friend was doing. Once both of his parents' cars had disappeared down the street Sage went into the dojo connected to their house to wait for the others. MoonStriker trotted along right behind him.


End file.
